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Vancouver, WA – Planning to improve conditions for riding bikes and walking over the next 20 years will be the focus for a pair of open houses on the evenings of July 28 and 30. Both sessions will run from 6 to 8 p.m. and cover the same topics.

The first open house will be at the Fishers Landing Transit Center, at Southeast 164th Avenue and State Route 14, Vancouver. The second will be in the sixth-floor hearing room at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

Project Manager Laurie Nicholson said the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and learn the status of this Community Planning project. In addition, she said anyone interested may provide input on these three topics:

– Potential updates to the Clark County Bicycle Commute Plan adopted in 1996. – How to enhance planning reflected in the Regional Trail & Bikeway Systems Plan adopted by Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation in 2006. – Broader concerns about how to make the county more “walkable” to promote health and safety for pedestrians both in urban and rural areas.

Nicholson said a draft plan should be ready for additional review and comment in the fall, before it is forwarded to the Planning Commission and Board of Clark County Commissioners for hearings and formal consideration in 2010.

More information is available on the project Web site at www.clark.wa.gov/bikeandped. People interested in learning more may also contact Nicholson directly at (360) 397-2280 ext. 4544, or e-mail laurie.nicholson@clark.wa.gov.